Jesus spoke Greek?

[Coach Williams]

After doing a pinch of research I found a few sinpits on Jesus being able to speak Greek as well.........


Pieter W. Van Der Horst wrote in the Biblical Archaeological Review after looking at 1,600+ Jewish epitaphs

***Note~(They are in ancient Palestine dating from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D)

He wrote this:

**********************************



"One of the most surprising facts about these funerary inscriptions is that most of them are IN GREEK -- approximately 70 percent; about 12 percent are in Latin; and only 18 percent are in Hebrew or Aramaic.

"These figures are even more instructive if we break them down between Palestine and the Diaspora. Naturally in Palestine we would expect more Hebrew and Aramaic and less Greek. This is true, but not to any great extent. Even in Palestine approximately TWO-THIRDS of these inscriptions are in GREEK.

"APPARENTLY FOR A GREAT PART OF THE JEWISH POPULATION THE DAILY LANGUAGE WAS GREEK, EVEN IN PALESTINE. This is impressive testimony to the impact of Hellenistic culture on Jews in their mother country, to say nothing of the Diaspora.

"In Jerusalem itself about 40 PERCENT of the Jewish inscriptions from the first century period (before 70 C.E.) ARE IN GREEK. We may assume that most Jewish Jerusalemites who saw the inscriptions in situ were able to read them" ("Jewish Funerary Inscriptions -- Most Are in Greek," Pieter W. Van Der Horst, BAR, Sept.-Oct.1992, p.48).

*******************************

I find this interesting because the theory of John using the literary device of a *pun* with the word "eternal" makes me feel funny. Since no such word in Ancient Aramaic or Ancient Hebrew translates to eternal it makes sense but now after reading this there is another option possible. If there is one that is correct though, I see it more likely Jesus understood some Greek due to his labor skills. I think he would've spoke enough Greek to manage business with the gentiles in Nazareth & the town of Sepphoris nearby.

Anyone have any good reading stuff on this topic?

[Winslowalrob]

For something that monumental I am surprised it has not affected Biblical scholarship that much. I think either scholars are looking into it as we speak or they have rejected it. Do you have any rebuttals on you Brice?

[Zguy28]

I would recommend Understanding the Bible by John Stott to get some good backround on everything biblical.

Did Jesus speak koine greek? Possibly.

The entire New Testament, with exception of Matthew was written in koine. It was the common language of most of the Roman Empire. It was used in marketplaces and elsewhere. There were also many greeks in Judea during the first century AD.

Matthew's gospel was written in Aramaic, because it was specifically targeting a Jewish audience.

John gospel, which was written in greek, has a more greek style to it, hence the focusing more on eternal life and the reference to Jesus as the logos or Word of God. Ancient greeks would have known what the concept of the logos meant. This is also why John's gospel is the most appealing to the Western mindset because our culture has been largely influenced by greek philosophy.

[Burgold]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. It's all Greek to me.

[ntotoro]

Is it really much of a shock that someone living under the rule of the Roman Empire spoke Greek? Almost the entire Eastern World did.

[Riggo-toni]

Greek was the international language back then, much as English is today. Contrary to what Mel Gibson might have you believe, any conversation between Pilate and Jesus would've been in Greek, not Latin.

[Zguy28]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. It's all Greek to me.

Alright! That's it for me. Goodnight
everybody.

[Burgold]

Dems the jokes. It is pretty cool. It makes total sence to me that Jesus should have been multi-linguistic. He should be able to talk to and understand all of his Father's creations.

[techboy]

What Language Did Jesus Speak and Why Does It Matter?

Excerpt:

Part 4: Jesus and Greek

So far in this article I've shown that Jesus spoke Aramaic as his primary language, and that he probably knew Hebrew as well. But what about Greek, the language of the New Testament writings? Is there evidence in the gospels that Jesus was conversant in Greek as well?

Once more I'd like to begin with the circumstantial evidence. Scholars have shown that the region in which Jesus grew up was a multi-cultural and multi-lingual area. Many Greek-speaking Gentiles lived around Nazareth, especially in the large city of Sepphoris that lay within reasonable walking distance from Jesus' hometown. Since Jesus worked as a carpenter prior to beginning his messianic ministry, it's quite likely that he would have interacted with people from Sepphoris, and therefore he may have known at least enough Greek to get by in business.

Several times throughout the New Testament gospels Jesus converses with someone who spoke Greek as a primary language, and who may not have known Aramaic. See, for example, Jesus' dialogue with the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13. Of course it's possible that there was a translator present, and this detail was not included in the gospel story because it added nothing of substance.

Perhaps the most striking example of this sort of dialogue happens during the passion of Jesus as he interacts with Pontius Pilate. All four New Testament gospels record this conversation, with John providing the most extensive account (see John 18). It is unlikely that Jesus knew enough Latin to converse in the official tongue of the Roman empire. And it's equally unlikely that Pontius Pilate knew Aramaic. He was not the sort of gracious governor who would have made the effort to learn the tongue of his subject people, that's for certain. So it's possible that Jesus and Pilate used Greek in order to communicate. Of course it's also possible that they used an interpreter. (Here Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ is probably not historically accurate. I can't remember now whether Jesus and Pilate dialogued in Aramaic or Latin, but I'm quite sure they didn't speak Greek or have an interpreter. Whatever the case, Mel Gibson can be forgiven for such an oversight. We're dealing with probabilities at this point, anyway.)

At most we can conclude that it's likely Jesus knew at least some Greek. But even if his knowledge of this language was minimal, this fact still helps us understand Jesus more completely. For many years it was common to envision Jesus as growing up in the countryside of Galilee, far removed from multi-cultural hodge-podge of the Roman Empire. But this idealized view of Jesus is far from the truth. Though he grew up in a small town, he was not at all cut off from the broader Roman world. In fact Jesus grew up with ample exposure to Greco-Roman language, culture, commerce, politics, religion, and philosophy. When he eventually entered Jerusalem to confront the Roman and Jewish authorities there - and to give his life in the process - Jesus was no naïve country bumpkin making his first trip to the big city. Rather he was well aware of powers and perils he faced, and he faced these knowing, as he ultimately said to Pontius Pilate (in Greek?), "My kingdom is not from this world" (John 18:36).

So, uh, maybe.

[Mr. S]

when you live in a multi-lingual area, or travel a bit, you tend to pick up a few languages. My cousins who live in India know Hindi, their native language of Marathi, went to an English Medium school so know English, and are required to take a foreign language class in school, so in one cousin's case, German. That is four languages.

Jesus would probably have known a good amount due to the language changes over relativeily short distances.

[Raub]

He was Jesus, he could have spoken any language he wanted to.

[Kosher Ham]

I can hear him now..."Red-40, Red-40, hut,hut,hut."

[Mr. S]

I can hear him now..."Red-40, Red-40, hut,hut,hut."

I'm sure he didn't have a noodle arm though, all the pics you see of him, he looks pretty jacked.

[Cyber Pimp]

Read 1 cor 14. It talks about speaking in tounges. The word of God is meant to spread around from nation to nation. The ability to be able to spread the word in different languages is speaking in tounges.

[Johnny Punani]

I would recommend Understanding the Bible by John Stott to get some good backround on everything biblical.

Did Jesus speak koine greek? Possibly.

The entire New Testament, with exception of Matthew was written in koine. It was the common language of most of the Roman Empire. It was used in marketplaces and elsewhere. There were also many greeks in Judea during the first century AD.

Matthew's gospel was written in Aramaic, because it was specifically targeting a Jewish audience.

John gospel, which was written in greek, has a more greek style to it, hence the focusing more on eternal life and the reference to Jesus as the logos or Word of God. Ancient greeks would have known what the concept of the logos meant. This is also why John's gospel is the most appealing to the Western mindset because our culture has been largely influenced by greek philosophy.

Wouldn't it make sense that Peter's testimony be written in Aramaic since he also was supposed to be a witness for the Jews? However, it isn't and that doesn't make much sense.